“It’s something I never thought I would be doing, but it’s a lot of fun,” Brandon Chamberland said about racing with his grandfather. “Not a lot of people can say they’ve done this. I feel lucky.”

Don Chamberland began racing 52 years ago at Waterford Speedbowl, starting in a 1940 Ford Coupe.

Don Chamberland recalled driving the flat-headed engine car sometimes had no floorboard on the right side, allowing stones to fly into the car. His helmet was leather, he wore a regular pair of jeans or jump suit, and “if you didn’t have a friend in the service who could get you a jump seat that had seat belts in it, you didn’t have a seat belt,” he said. The gas tank, meanwhile, was made out of a half keg that formerly held beer.

The veteran driver also ran at Stafford, Monadnock and Seekonk before settling in at Thompson 13 years ago. This year, he passed the keys to the No. 24 Limited Sportsman to his grandson while he sometimes drove the No. 15 car. The race on Sunday was just his second one this year.

“I’m in good shape, I like driving, but I’m out here to just have fun,” Don Chamberland said. “I’m not here to get in the way of the guys who want to win, and all the guys respect me. That’s all that you ask for.”

And when running with his grandson?

“I get out there and tell him, I’m going to tap him a little bit,” Don Chamberland said with a laugh.

This is the first year in a Limited Sportsman — or for that matter, any car — for Brandon Chamberland.

“I’ve been working on the cars since I was little, slowly getting more and more into it, and last year he (my grandfather) told me that I could drive the car. It was a big step up,” Brandon Chamberland said. “I had never driven anything before this, nothing at all. I drove a go-kart and an ATV, but never a car.”

He hasn’t done too bad for himself. He entered Sunday’s event ranked 18th among the 41 drivers in the division. There are a few times he didn’t finish, but he started every race.

“It could have gone better,” Brandon Chamberland said. “We’ve had our ups and downs this whole year, but it wasn’t bad.”

Fortunately, he has his grandfather to pass down advice. And there are more than a few helpful tips.

“Just use your head, listen to what people have to tell you and mind your own business,” Brandon Chamberland said.

“I tell him the same things that I learned the hard way,” Don Chamberland said with a chuckle. “Keep out of trouble, run by yourself, watch out for the other guy because they’re not going to watch out for you.”

The elder Chamberland is happy his protégé has “used his head,” and above all, is an ‘A’ student at school in Plainfield.

“He don’t do the schooling, he don’t do the driving,” Don Chamberland said.

“I’m moving to Florida,” Coutu said Sunday afternoon. “I’ve had enough of this state.”

His family has been in Sebastian, Fla., for the last month and a half. His father joins them in January and he also has a sister and three uncles in the area.

“Everybody tells me how great it is down there,” Coutu said. “Why not go find out?”

Coutu said he wanted to finish the racing season, meaning the October World Series of Racing event will be his last before heading south.

The Limited Sportsman driver started driving go-karts as a child and then moved up to a Late Model with his brother. He started driving in the division he now competes in, in 2003.

“I’m going to miss it, but it’s a lot of work and it’s going to feel good to relax,” Coutu said.

Coutu added he might get back into racing in Florida, only on a much smaller level — in the go-karts with his children.

“I think back a lot about it (his go-kart racing days),” he said. “Good memories. And I want my kids to have the same.”

Christopher takes a hike

There’s a motto Ted Christopher seems to live his life by these days: Have car, will travel.

Prior to Sunday’s Thompson features, where he ran both a Sunoco Modified and a Tour-Type modified, Christopher was in Berlin, Mich., for an ISMA Supermodified event at the Berlin Raceway.

Christopher last drove a Supermodified for the late Paul Dunnigan at Thompson, and he always liked the feel of the high-powered machine. He ran into Supermodified owner Clyde Booth at Waterford earlier this year and talked to him about the car. Later, when Christopher learned Booth and his driver had split, he called the car owner again offering his services.

“He told me I was on the list,” Christopher said.

After Saturday, he may be higher on that list.

Christopher drove to the third fastest time in the first practice session, and fifth in the second. A hub broke on the front end of the car in the heat race and Christopher started last among 19 cars in the feature. He was 11th by the sixth lap and quickly moved into the top five, but at first, found it difficult to pass leader Mike Lichty.

“I was all over him. I had a better car, but it’s hard to pass in those things,” Christopher said. “They talk about aero-push and when you get behind someone in one of those cars, you really suck up to them and when you get into the turn and get right on their bumper, the air comes off the front of your car and your car shoots up the race track a groove and a half.”

Christopher got the benefit of a caution with 10 laps to go, caught Lichty, and passed him on the backstretch. Christopher won the race by almost half the track.

“I was wicked, wicked excited (Saturday) night,” Christopher said. “I like winning, I get excited, but I was really, really happy that I won for (Booth) and they were happy, too. They called me (Sunday) and told me it was one of the most exciting wins they’ve had in their career.”

Christopher will drive Booth’s car in the World Series of Auto Racing in October at Thompson, all while handling his Sunoco Modified and Whelen Modified Tour responsibilities.

Other notes of interest

— The program at Thompson was delayed for about an hour Sunday when the Community Fire Department ambulance had to leave for a call and the back-up that Thompson had in place was forced to respond to the same emergency. No races run without an ambulance on site.

— There has been talk of the Speedway possibly moving its Thursday Night Thunder weekly series to a different night in 2011. Track operations manager Russ Dowd, who also serves as the public address announcer during programs, took an informal poll prior to the start of the race Sunday night. He asked for response, by manner of applause, on how many fans liked Thursday night, how many had attended Thursday night races and how many were in favor of the Sunday night show. The program was made possible by a rainout earlier this year.

— Sunday’s car count was one of the best of the year at Thompson with 139 competitors showing up, including 27 Tour-type Modifieds and 31 Limited Sportsman cars. One likely reason for the higher count: No competition on Sunday from other tracks.

— After a rough race in the program-opening Limited Sportsman feature, state police had their presence felt in the pits. Expecting tempers to be riding high, two cruisers parked where most of the division’s cars were located.

There was no repeat of a one-sided brawl that marred a program earlier this year at the track.

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